Case Study 2.3 Bernie Madoff and the Biggest Swindle in History Discussion Probes, p. 73 1. What unhealthy motivations drove Madoff to defraud investors and betray his friends? The motivation is selfishness. This is based on noted greed (extravagant lifestyle and the need to continuously take more money), narcissism (feeling of entitlement and ignoring welfare of others), and Machiavellianism (manipulation of others for self-gain, creating positive impressions while he gets what he wants). 2. Was Madoff’s scheme “extraordinarily evil” as the judge claimed? Yes, Madoff knowingly collected the life savings from people, including close friends, to support his own wants in life. When the charade was finished, many lost everything they had. 3. Was his punishment excessive? Will it deter other possible criminals? No, the punishment was not excessive. Madoff figuratively took the lives away from others. Therefore, him spending the rest of his life in prison is a fitting punishment. 4. Are the victims partially to blame for the success of this swindle? Yes, I believe the victims are partially to blame. The victims were guilty of greed, too. We are taught not to put all our money in one stock or mutual fund, but they did it anyway. 5. Do you think Madoff acted alone, or did he have help from employees and/or family members? I do not think that he acted alone which could be a possible reason for one of his son’s suicide. The family maintains their innocence, but I have serious doubts. It is an employee’s ethical duty to be informed of her surroundings and ask appropriate questions. 6. Should clients who got their money out before the fund collapsed be forced to return these funds to help reimburse less fortunate investors? No, I do not think they should be forced to do so, especially if there is no proof of them having prior knowledge of the situation. If these people knew about the situation and did get their money out before the collapse by having...

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...couldnâ€™t be further from the truth. What causes one to commit fraud? Is it greed? Is it the thrill of not being caught? Is it the feeling that you are owed something and this is the way to fulfill that feeling? There are an endless amount of reasons that could cause one to commit fraud. Bernard Madoffâ€™s reasoning remains a mystery. He was the â€œthe founder and primary owner of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and Exchange Commission LLC. The firm is primarily known for its business in market-making, or serving as the middleman between buyers and sellers of shares. But Mr. Madoff also oversaw an investment-advisory business that managed money for high-net-worth individuals, hedge funds and other institutions.â€ (The Wall Street Journal)
There is not one person that doesnâ€™t understand how BernieMadoff got away with this for as long as he did. Even BernieMadoff cannot believe it himself. â€œOne of the reasons Madoff was able to perpetrate his fraud for so long was his preference for marketing his investment business by word of mouth.â€ (CNNMoney.com) BernieMadoff was a well known investor that was popular among celebrities and the wealthy and was a difficult man to get an appointment to be their money manager. He started off with an investor, offering to take x amount of money and promising to give them more in return....

...BernieMadoff
By
Michael Dickson
1/24/2009
In our countries history there have been many people that have done a lot of unethical things when it comes to finances. Back in 1920 a man named Charles Ponzi began advertising that he could make a 50% return for investors in only 45 days. Many people believed in this and began to mortgageoff their homes and all of their lives savings. As all of the information became public that he had a criminal history people began to question his judgment. All of them were correct and he was indicted on 86 counts of fraud and tens of millions of dollars were gone.
After this happened anyone caught swindling money from incent investors would be know as to have pulled a Ponzi scam. No one our nation has every beaten what Charles Ponzi until 2008. BernieMadoff has been charged and convictedof pulling off the largest financial scam every by taking over $50 billion over a course of decades from people that trusted him to invest and give large returns. But who is the man that earned this trust and where did he come from?
Mr. Madoff had a business installing and fixing sprinklersystems but he saved money and with only $5,000 he joined the ranks of Wall Street in the late 1960’s. With his very small firm he got his start by matching buyers of inexpensive “penny stocks” with sellers in the growing market. But in the late 1970’s his...

...In December 2008 BernieMadoff was arrested under the suspicion of fraud. His Wall Street firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was founded in 1960. Madoff was the chairman of this company through its entire existence until his arrest. Ponzi Schemes such as the one BernieMadoff started at his company have been around for years; the first being Charles Ponzi’s scheme in the 1900’s.Madoff made history through his scheme as it is considered one of the largest financial frauds ever.
Madoff pulled the fraud off by taking money from investors and charities, and promising huge returns. Huge returns are exactly what his investors received also. Madoff was able to miraculously make his investors’ money with continually high percentages. Investors flocked to Madoff after seeing such great profits being made by others. Madoff ran his fraud operation anywhere from 18- 48 years. According to him the first fraud performed started in 1990 whereas, others believe the company could’ve possibly been illegitimate throughout its existence.
How does a person trick thousands of people into investing in a fraud? An answer for that could be good leadership. Madoff’s clients were often times people he knew on a personal basis. Portraying a self-image that showed honesty, intelligence, and confidence,...

...Madoff
[pic] [pic]
Anneke Myers
April 9, 2013
Professor Kevin Voce
Morrisville State College
One of the most well known schemer and criminal of the white collar field was BernieMadoff. The chameleon created an impression of being a nice and caring person at work, but ironically, deep down inside he was a deranged money hungry criminal. Many people could not believe the news they were hearing after he had confessed to the crimes he committed because he was really good at hiding the true person he was. He was a master at impression management. Quoted from Diana Goldberg “He was a hero to us, the head of NASDAQ. We were proud of everything he had accomplished”. They believed in him, he gained everyone’s trust by manipulating them and then went on to being the man behind the world’s largest and biggest pansy scheme ever. Everyone was devastated and left in shock.
BernieMadoff was born on April 29th, 1938 in Queens, New York. Madoff was like your typical teenager; interested in girls, wanted to have fun, and enjoyed swimming, which caused him to join a swim team. When Madoff wasn’t at competitions, he was a life guard. He quickly learned the challenge of saving money. While being a life guard he saved 5,000 dollars with also help from his side job of installing...

...BernieMadoff
Bernard (Bernie) Madoff committed this century’s largest Ponzi scheme to date. First we will define Ponzi Scheme – it is a fraudulent pyramid scheme where original investors are paid their gains out of new investors money so it would appear to old investor that the scheme (business) is producing an unusually large return (Albrecht, 2009). The Ponzi scheme that Madoff created and pulled off for years was quite intricate. In a standard pyramid scheme each victim unknowingly brings in more and more victims, where as a Ponzi scheme has a single entity (group or individual) to keep up with and organize the fraud. The operator of the Ponzi scheme then will take new money brought in from recent investors and pay off previous investors. For this to continue on there must be a constant influx of new investors so there must be someone working that angle on a regular basis. Eventually the group of new investors will run out because the funds dry up. In a lot of Ponzi schemes when they begin to run low on victims things seem to fall apart and investors loose it all. In some cases the perpetuator escapes the area with all the money he / she have scammed. When or if they are caught the perpetuator will have to face prosecution and / or repayment of all money to victims and possible jail / prison time or pay restitution to the government. In some cases there are assets seized to reimburse victims and pay...

...BernieMadoff
Rebecca Freedline
Strayer University
Business law
BernieMadoff
Bernard L. Madoff (Bernie) is still making news headlines. He is currently incarcerated for numerous illegal and unethical behaviors. I am going to: Describe three types of illegal business behavior alleged against Bernie and explain how the behavior is illegal or unethical. Name three types of parties who were impacted by the actions of Bernie and how. Describe three business safeguards that may have prevented the harm caused by Bernie. Describe three ways investors might have better protected themselves from risk. Describe three legal actions that possibly may be brought against Bernie under criminal or civil law. And provide an analysis on the causes and actions of Bernie as well as the measures taken to prevent this action in the future.
Bernie started making money legitimately through Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities L.L.C.(BLMIS), one of the most successful broker-dealers on wall street, specializing in over-the-counter stocks. He was a market maker, meaning he both bought and sold stocks and profited by selling stocks for a few cents more per share than he bought them for. People trusted him, believed in him. Nasdaq make him its chairman, and the SEC appointed him...

...
The Great Ponzi, BernieMadoff.
BernieMadoff is known as The Great Ponzi. BernieMadoff is a former American businessman,
stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier. On December 11, 2008 he was arrested and charged
with securities fraud. One of the reasons why Madoff's scheme did so well is the fact you had to be
invited to invest with him. It gave it that exclusivity that makes people want to get in on it. Basically he
was paying new clients with money from old clients, the key is to always have new clients. Instead of
investing the money he recived from investors, he just deposited the money into his own bank account
and released completely made up investment reports. According to Markopolos, he knew within
minutes that Madoff's numbers did not add up, and it took four hours of failed attempts to replicate
them to conclude Madoff was a fraud. He was ignored by the Boston SEC in 2000 and 2001, and by
Meaghan Cheung at the New York SEC in 2005 and 2007 when he presented even more evidence.
These types of schemes always show up when the economy turns.
Page 1
The Great Ponzi, BernieMadoff. (Continued)
Concerns about Madoff's business surfaced as early as 1999, when financial analyst Harry Markopolos
informed the U.S. Securities and Exchange...